Ohio House Public Safety Committee - 3-24-2026

This meeting of the Public Safety Committee will now come to order. Will the clerk please call the roll?

and we will proceed as a full committee. Members, the minutes of the March 17, 2026 committee meeting are on your iPads for review. Are there any objections or changes to the minutes? Hearing no objections, the minutes are approved. I will now call House Bill 667 for its third hearing. The chair recognizes Vice Chair Miller for a motion.

Okay. It's House Bill 667. I think that's a typo. It's okay. 677. Okay, never mind. Go ahead. Explain the amendment.

Okay. Are there any questions or discussions on the amendment? All right. Without objection, the motion will be agreed to. Hearing no objection, the motion is agreed to and the committee accepts the amendment. Is there anyone here that would like to give opponent testimony on House Bill 677? All right, that will conclude the third hearing of House Bill 677. I will now call House Bill 630 for its first hearing. The chair recognizes Representative Dean for sponsor testimony. Welcome to committee representatives.

Okay. Thank you for your testimony. Members, do you have any questions? All right. Seeing none.

Thank you for your testimony. That will now conclude the first hearing on House Bill 630. I will now call House Bill 714 for its first hearing. the chair recognizes representatives Odioso and Sigrist for sponsor testimony welcome to committee Thank you and good morning

Chair Abrams, Vice Chair Miller, Ranking Member Thomas, and members of the House Public Safety Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide sponsored testimony on House Bill 714, which seeks to refine and enhance the governing laws on vehicular assault and yielding to pedestrians. I also would like to note this is the first time that I've appeared before this committee and it's quite the privilege to be here. House Bill 714 is bipartisan legislation and amend sections, as indicated, of the Ohio Revised Code to strengthen pedestrian protections, clarify driver responsibilities, and improve accountability for dangerous driving practices. The legislation provides clarity and consistency in Ohio's traffic laws, particularly regarding pedestrian right-of-way and vehicular offenses that result in serious harm, which is the part of the bill that Secrest has covered. House bill does the following, 714 does the following, clarifies the legal standard when a driver must yield to pedestrians. Under current law, there is significant ambiguity that can lead to confusion and inconsistent enforcement. The bill clarifies this gap and ensures when a pedestrian lawfully enters a crosswalk, drivers must stop and yield, regardless of lane configuration or the presence of electronic walk signals. the bill modestly increases misdemeanor penalties for drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians modernizes and clarifies statutory language governing pedestrian walk do not walk signals aligning ohio law with current traffic control practices and improving consistency across jurisdictions and as mentioned before so eloquently by rep secrets the bill fills the vacuum when physical harm results from the negligent operation of a vehicle by creating a misdemeanor offense for negligent vehicular homicide. It's clear that this bill maintains all existing felony penalties and mandatory prison terms for the rather most serious offenses. It does not weaken current law, rather ensures that harmful conduct is addressed proportionately across a full spectrum of behavior. I want to be clear here. House Bill 714 also sustains the pedestrian's duty of crossing outside of a crosswalk If they cross outside of a crosswalk they must yield to all vehicles on the roadway Pedestrians cannot suddenly leave a curb or place of safety and walk and run into the path of a vehicle that is too close to stop in time. Moreover, the pedestrians still have a general duty of care and exercising reasonable caution for their safety, which includes using crosswalks, obeying traffic signals, and not suddenly stepping into traffic. And I've referenced the Ohio Administrative Code that covers these various scenarios that directly relate to people walking into crosswalks as well. At its core, House Bill 714 is about safety, clarity, and accountability. It provides clear guidance to drivers, stronger protections for pedestrians, and appropriate consequences when these protections are violated. And my last thought on this is, when I was working on this bill, is that it occurred to me that I am both a driver and a pedestrian. And when I'm a driver, I have certain interests, and when I'm a pedestrian, I have certain interests. I get frustrated at both moments. And so I think this is an opportunity for us to reexamine pedestrian safety, reexamine driver's responsibilities. And I am open to, obviously, to the proponent, but in addition to opponent testimony on this bill, I think it gives us a chance to refresh and update and modernize our pedestrian safety laws. And so I will conclude with that. Again, Chair Abrams, Vice Chair Miller, Ranking Member Thomas, and members of the House Public Safety Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. We're happy to answer any questions you may have.

Vice Chair Miller. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for this bill. The only thing I struggle with on this bill is it seems to me that we are prioritizing injuries, unfortunate injuries, with pedestrians versus injuries that are sustained in any other crash. So, for example, if they fail to yield and seriously injure a pedestrian, we've increased the penalties under this bill. But similarly, if...

So in this bill, if a pedestrian is struck, the penalties are enhanced. But we don't have the same situation if someone fails to yield to another vehicle and someone is seriously injured. So in my mind, I'm struggling with a double standard because in both cases, an individual is seriously injured. Yet in one case, we've increased the penalty, and in the other, we have not. Can you speak to that?

Thank you for that. And I'd like to take that as follow-up. And I can mainly speak to when we approached it from the pedestrian viewpoint, there is a vehicular assault penalty for causing death that's significantly higher than minor misdemeanor. There was a gap for a vehicular assault by negligence for serious physical harm. And I think that viewpoint, I'd like to regroup and think toward your question with this idea that we have a significant gap between a negligence, someone got bumped at the curb and they're on their way and they don't even want treatment to, you've changed the course of life for, if you looked at the data there in the all injuries table, you know, five to six hundred injuries a year on the roadways that are outside the car. And when Governor DeWine talks about traffic fatalities and the fact that it's kind of declining a little bit, there's fatalities and injuries that are disproportionately increasing outside the car. And so I took the viewpoint of kind of the lesser protected person in this situation, and not possibly someone in the car, because I was just thinking with that paradigm of in the car, and outside the car of knowing that the injuries and the fatalities outside the car are disproportionately rising up. Obviously, we know cars are getting safer. All kinds of reasons cars are getting safer, but cars are getting heavier and quieter and faster, and we have more people competing to use our roads than ever before. I think 2025 had to have been the year of the scooter. It just seems like there's an explosion in central Ohio of kids on scooters. So that reality, knowing that a car might be out of reach or desires to take up more road space, that's the paradigm I went in with. But I respect the question on inside the car and someone else gets hurt on turning the left lane. I didn't come in with that paradigm, and I want to have more discussion if I can. But clearly this was kind of a viewpoint of more and more entities or parties using the road, and many are not inside a vehicle that has a lot of safety stuff going on in it. And, you know, kind of when these people live thereafter that I was referring to is a reality. In many instances, the people that are taking care of the person that was out, they're going to not outlive that person that's being taken care of today. And I just think it's just such a long ripple effect for the injured pedestrian. So can I take it as follow-up for future ones?

Sure. Thanks, Madam Chair. And I guess I would just add to that, you know, I've had folks approach me on motorcycles as well, increasing penalties for violations, failure to yield to motorcycles as well. So I guess if we're going to look at an issue like this, for me, I'd like to look at a broader scope that's saying if we're going to increase due to injuries sustained, I personally don't necessarily think it should be limited to just crosswalk violations. I think we should look at the whole gamut of traffic violations, if in fact that's where we want to move towards. So thank you for your testimony.

Excuse me, if I can.

No, no, as a matter of fact, this bill for the negligence for vehicular assault is not just crosswalk, it legal road use and it broader than that There was a gap in the state law there was no kind of thing for serious physical harm when a pedestrian is crossing a road or on the road or not necessarily just pedestrian either. It could be someone in a non-motorized vehicle.

To my understanding, there's only a minor misdemeanor when it doesn't involve a death.

Thomas and members of the house public safety committee my name is Carrie Carpenter and I am Patrick Herringer's sister to the loved ones of Reagan tokes and other victims I am so deeply sorry. We are all connected by a loss no family should have to endure. To this committee, I'd like to ask you to consider something for a moment. Think of the person in your life who is your constant, your anchor, the one who knows you, who always shows up for you, who has been there through the best and worst moments of your life, who loves you unconditionally. I want you to picture that person clearly. Now imagine that without warning, they are taken from you. Not by illness, not by accident, but by another person, someone who should never have had the opportunity to harm them.

That is what happened to my family. Patrick was taken from us in an act of violence that should never have been possible. And what makes this loss even more difficult to carry is knowing that it was preventable. The person responsible had removed an ankle monitor. There were warrants. There were breakdowns in communication and supervision. Breakdowns that House Bill 667 is designed to address. This bill ensures that when warrants are issued for individuals under supervision, They are communicated quickly to those responsible for public safety It also strengthens GPS monitoring so violations are seen and acted on in real time not missed Patrick was my only sibling, and my family and I will carry his absence every single day for the rest of our lives. the calls that will never come, the moments that we will never share, the future that will never unfold the way it should have. And while nothing can bring Patrick back, what happens next is still within your control. You have the opportunity and the responsibility to act on what is already known, to close gaps that have already cost lives, to ensure that no other family has to stand where we stand today. So I will leave you with this. If a system failure made it possible for someone you love deeply to be taken from you and you had the chance to fix it, would you hesitate? Please do not hesitate now. Make this the moment where action follows awareness, where responsibility leads to change. where Patrick Herringer's name and Reagan Toke's name are the last ones ever added to this devastating story. Thank you. I will stand for questions.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Chair Abrams, Vice Chair Miller, Ranking Member Thomas, and members of the House Public Safety Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to provide proponent testimony on House Bill 667, the Reagan-Tokes, and Patrick Herringer Act. My name is Sarah Herringer, and I am the widow of Patrick Herringer. And I want to tell you who my husband was and what he built in our community. Patrick was a decorated combat veteran who served two tours of war and was awarded two bronze stars and a combat infantryman badge. And when he came home, he continued to serve. He just served in a different way. Together we built a place in Cincinnati where people came to do hard things. They built resilience, we built a community, and because of that, lives changed. People showed up for each other. They carried that strength outside of those walls, and what he built didn't stay in a gym. It moved into people's lives, into the neighborhood, and into the city. Patrick didn't know a stranger. there wasn't a single person walking the streets of Cincinnati that he didn't stop and speak to regardless of who they were. That was Patrick. And that was the man who was murdered in the early morning hours of June 4, 2025, in his own home. A man broke into our house carrying a 10-inch blade, a man who should never have been free in the first place, A man who already removed an ankle monitor and had active warrants out for his arrest. Because he was free, he entered our home. Patrick stepped in. He fought the man who entered our bedroom with a knife Patrick was stabbed 13 times including a wound to the neck that ended his life I held my husband in my arms while I called 911 and tried to keep him breathing. And there are sounds that you will never forget. The sound of someone you love struggling to breathe. The sound of your own voice screaming for help in a way that you have never heard before? Patrick died protecting me. If he had not stepped in, I would not be alive today, and neither would my sister who was living with us. And the man who entered our home should have never had the opportunity to do so. If the notification requirements and monitoring standards in this bill had been in place and enforced, he would have been located and taken into custody before he ever made it to my door, and Patrick would still be alive. House Bill 667 addresses the exact failures that allowed this to happen. It requires immediate notification when warrants are issued for individuals under supervision and ensures real-time monitoring so violations like removing an ankle monitor are acted upon immediately. These are not abstract policy changes. They are points where the system failed. This legislation carries two names. Reagan Tokes and Patrick Herringer. Reagan Tokes was murdered in Ohio under circumstances that exposed these exact same failures in supervision and accountability. There was an opportunity to fix it then, and the legislation died on this floor. Now there is another name. Another life taken under the same failures. Another family permanently changed. And nothing this body does today will bring back Patrick. Nothing will bring Reagan-Tokes back. But decisions made in this room today will determine whether another family stands here telling the same story again. If this body fails to pass this, it will no longer be a failure of policy. It will be a choice. Today you have the opportunity to make sure Patrick Herringer's name is the last one added to this legislation, and I hope you take that seriously. Thank you for the opportunity, and I will stand for questions.

Chair Abrams, Vice Chair Miller, Ranking Member Thomas, thank you for the opportunity to address this committee. I have submitted a proponent testimony on this, so I will not repeat that testimony. I've also sent to the chair a letter from the Hamlet County Association and Chiefs of which represents 35 police departments in Hamilton County supporting this act. Last year I was president of that association, and in response to what happened to Patrick Herringer and other incidents in Hamilton County, the Chiefs Association created a new committee on criminal justice and public safety. And Sarah used an important word, and that is accountability. We have focused on three goals with our committee, and that is accountability, transparency, and cooperation. The cooperation is important because what we sought to do is to bring all the partners in a criminal justice system together to identify these sorts of problems now and begin to address them before there's more victims. The prosecutors prosecute a law based on arrests that police officers make. The judges adjudicate that law and deliver a sentence. For all of that to happen, we need this body to deliver us laws and tools that allow us to keep the public safe. There is no place in this world other than America where I'd rather be charged with a crime. The list of rights for defendants are as long as your arm. There is case law after case law after case law protecting the defendants, giving them the benefit of the doubt. It is the way it should be, and I don't think you will find anybody in law enforcement that will argue with that. Where the system has failed, and by the system I mean everybody, from the legislators all all the way down to the street cop, where the system has failed, it has failed to give priority to victims. Every one of us, through our duties, is a member of the public safety system in the state of Ohio. Everybody has to do their part. The part for the legislators to deliver us the tools, the laws that we need to put bad guys in jail and protect victims. I looked at Sarah and Carrie and I told them that I apologize that they have to be here. Because they are right. The system has failed them. We are doing everything we can to work with our partners to find as many problems and fix as many problems as we can. And I ask you to do your part and look at this law as a way to address one of those failures And as Sarah said, not put any more names on this act. But don't wait another seven, eight, nine years to pass this. It's common sense legislation. Protect victims, protect your constituents. Thank you for the opportunity to address the committee, and I'll stand for any questions.

Yeah. It's my understanding that from the time of the crime, and I'm just speaking from my recollection in the media, I had nothing to do with the case. From the time he cut his ankle monitor off to the time that the crime occurred, I think it was weeks to months. Yeah. Yes. I thought that's what I was getting at. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you for the question, Representative Thomas. I will tell you that as our committee began to meet with our partners, the number one thing that we emphasized was and found to be a problem was a breakdown of communication within the system. Cops having information doesn't get to prosecutors, it doesn't get to judges, it doesn't get to probation officers, information of probation and parole, not getting back to prosecutors and police officers. And you're right, in this modern day technology, there's no reason for those communication gaps to exist. If a crime is committed in Hamilton County, we ought to be able to pick up the phone and call Hamilton County Adult Probation or Adult Parole Authority in Hamilton County and say, what criminals did you have that were in this area at this time of night? Because the vast majority of criminals are repeat offenders, and chances are that one of those probationers or a parolee, you'd be able to show that they were in that area. So I think I've answered your question. and I think that there ought to be an obligation to use technology to improve communication and information sharing.

I live in Perrysburg, and I said, it's interesting you're calling me right now because I was actually just driving through our local cemetery, and I FaceTimed her, and there was Reagan Toks' headstone right near where I was driving. And so this impacts all of our communities when we lose someone to violence such as this. A couple questions, Chair, if I may. First is the technology is already there for when an ankle monitor is outside of a fenced off area per se to alert someone. The technology is already there if it's cut off to alert someone. So the first question I have is, is the lack of response due to a lack of personnel or a lack of individuals that are monitoring these notifications when someone goes outside of their permitted area or cuts off a device such as an ankle monitor?

Representative, can I just give you a little information here? So when this crime happened, this murder happened, what I found out literally days later is the statewide system, the targeted violent offenders that were on the ankle monitor with the adult parole authority, they were not being monitored in real time. Today they are because they changed their policy almost immediately to reflect this. and they were at the table when I was drafting this bill. So today they are, and that's for the record. They're being monitored in real time at this moment, and local law enforcement is being notified when they abscond or go AWOL. Thank you for the clarification.

I'll speak from it from the monitoring side first, the parole and probation. What this bill does with the real-time monitoring, then it's important for parole in this case with this law to make sure there's a proper notification process. Whoever it is in that office is notified. This person has removed their ankle monitor. And then you get to the reporting and the entry requirement within 48 hours to notify local law enforcement to put it in the database. So that is going to happen at the operational end for Adult Parole Authority with this legislation. I would like to see something similar for probation departments throughout the state. But to give you an example, with this in Hamilton County, and a variety of counties have something very similar to this, there's a variety of fugitive task forces down in Hamlin County. It's called SOFAST. If they would have immediately notified SOFAST, and we have as our agency called SOFAST, we'll call them at 3 o'clock in the afternoon and say, hey, we just entered a warrant for this suspect. He's dangerous. We want to make this a priority. SOFAST begins working on that case as soon as we notify him. And oftentimes it 5 or 6 o the next morning They serving a warrant at his house to take him into custody So that what this bill would permit to do it Then the obligation is on the various entities to act on that information

Again, I'm all for increasing communication and sharing information. The challenge becomes if someone cuts off their ankle monitor that lives in my jurisdiction, they cut off their ankle monitor, I do not have the ability to sign a warrant for that because they're not subject to my control. Probation would or adult parole authority would. So it would be helpful information for me, but as the laws exist in the state of Ohio today, I can't act on that information. Okay.

Chair Abrams, Vice Chair Miller, Ranking Member Thomas, and members of the House Public Safety Committee, I wish to offer support of House Bill 667 as it will make Ohio a more safe place. I submitted written testimony yesterday like the chief, I don't intend to read it in its entirety and I certainly support wholeheartedly the post-release control, the ankle monitoring, all of those aspects of the bill, but I wish to address a different part of the bill that is impacting citizens of our state and that is the rollback of some of the provisions of TCAP or targeted community alternatives to prison. It's an important part of this bill because when I talk to the citizens of Fayette County, their major concern is crime. And violent crime, the crime of which we heard, is certainly a major aspect and a major factor in this state. But one of the other problems that we have that this bill addresses is the repeat nonviolent offender. Under the targeted community alternatives to prison program, as they currently exist, no matter how many times a person has committed a nonviolent offense or how many times a person has failed community control or even if a person is on post-release control but never committed a violent felony, the only option for the sentencing judge is to place that person back on community control and place that person or incarcerate them in the local facility. The primary issue with this is that we are left with a system without teeth, or one that the defendants do not take seriously. And I provided the committee with Two examples in my written testimony that I will highlight here. First, and both of these are individuals that I have prosecuted since September of last year, so within the last seven months. First, we have Matthew Betzko. Since 2022, Mr. Betzko has either been convicted of stealing or been in possession of receiving stolen property of four motor vehicles. That's quite a feat when he has been incarcerated in our local facility for a significant period of those four years. However, when in last September, when he was awaiting sentencing for his most recent felony theft of a motor vehicle, he told the people in our local jail that he did not want to spend more time in the Fayette County Jail. He wanted to go to prison. He knew that he did not have a violent record. He knew that the judge was unable to sentence him to prison. So Mr. Besko literally took the law into his own hands and struck the jail nurse while the jail nurse was going to administer him his daily medicine, passing it out. Essentially, it was all captured on video. It was a sucker punch, and I will note that it was a lucky sucker punch because what Mr. Betzko did not realize is the man that he punched was a ninth-degree black belt. The nurse did receive a concussion, was off work for multiple weeks, and Mr. Betzko was charged with felonious assault as a result of that and wound up currently in the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. Another example is that of Scott Frump. Mr. Frump was sentenced to the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections last week for a felony of the third degree. However, prior to this felony of the third degree since 2015, Mr. Frump has been convicted of seven felony drug offenses, two OVIs, and has failed to appear on bond on multiple occasions. Mr. Frump is an individual that, based upon his past, he showed absolutely no regard to any of the drug treatment programs that the probation department offered. Mr. Frump showed absolutely no desire to have any drug treatment, to have anything that would better his life. It wasn't the fault of the probation officers for trying. They tried inpatient facilities. They tried outpatient facilities. but the saying of you can lead a horse to water but cannot make them drink is what is applicable here. So not only in that situation are we placing our citizens of Ohio, specifically of Fayette County in my case, at risk of crime or being a victim of a nonviolent crime, and certainly violent crime is bad, but imagine waking up and not having your car to drive to work the next morning. Victims of nonviolent crime are still victims of crime. It's admirable that we wish to treat people. It's admirable that we wish to treat nonviolent criminals. But some of them, if they repeatedly show that they have absolutely no regard for the criminal justice system, our judges need to have the opportunity to send them to prison, to incarcerate them. And I'm asking this this body to support and adopt the provisions of House Bill 667 that would allow our judges to again have that discretion. Prior to TCAP the judges did have that discretion The other benefit to that is it allows our probation officers to service those who wish to better themselves If our probation officers could spend time dealing with those drug addicts, dealing with those nonviolent criminals that wish to better themselves, themselves for some somehow felt through some other crack in the system, didn't have the education, didn't have the opportunities growing up, and our probation officers can work with those people to better themselves and make themselves better members of society and productive members of society. And that does happen and that does work. We spend too much time focusing on some of these individuals who have absolutely no regard for the system, have absolutely no desire to better themselves. Like Mr. Betzko, take matters into their own hands. And I would note he, in the four years that we monitored him, he was just a criminal. He liked to steal cars. He never had a drug problem. He never failed a drug test when he was on probation. He just liked to steal cars. And Mr. Frump has overdosed multiple times. This last time he overdosed, he was seated at a stop sign with his foot on the brake when the deputies finally arrived, broke his window, got the truck in to park. Situations that could be a whole lot worse for people that absolutely have no desire for the rest of society. Again, I offer support of this bill, I ask you to pass it, support it in its entirety, and I will stand for any questions.

Thank you, Chair. Thanks for the testimony, sir. What is the current penalty if an individual cuts

Follow up. I guess I'm getting back to my question to the chief here when he mentioned that he wouldn't have necessarily, if I understood him correctly, the chief wouldn't have the authority absent to go take that individual into custody. I think you mentioned maybe that would be adult parole, but if we would classify cutting off an ankle monitor, say, as a felony, then any law enforcement officer, whether it's in their jurisdiction or not, could immediately act with arresting that person even without the warrant being entered into a system within 48 hours. Is that correct?

Just one last follow-up. Thank you. But if someone robs a bank, okay, That's like a felony, okay?

So if an individual cuts an ankle monitor off and that a felony violation in the state of Ohio that would enable anyone whether you are small Ohio or you a big metropolitan city Ohio It would enable any law enforcement officer candidly any citizen to act on that So why not make this a felony the simple act of even cutting it off as a felony

Okay. Thank you.

Chair, can you clarify then, please?

The 48-hour piece that's currently in the bill, that's a lot of time, especially if...

Right now, I believe it's an administrative code that the parole officers have days to charge someone.

It's still a long time for a warrant to be put in the system, Chair, isn't it? I mean, a lot can transpire in 48 hours.

To formally charge them.

But I thought the bill said it's 48 hours to get the warrant into the system.

I'm just saying 48 hours is a long time.

All right.

I'm sorry.

Thank you.

The two examples you gave, I'm just speaking from my experience. judges still had the ability to send those individuals to prison. The law, if I can respond correctly, even though they are low-level offenses, if the individual is a repeat offender, if he's been to prison and he came back and he's shown some propensity to continue to be an offender The judge had every in those cases you described they could have sent those individuals back to prison They could have violated their probation or parole or whatever area they were under and sent them back to prison. It sounds like in those two cases, those were issues with the judge. Respectfully, Representative Thomas,

Thank you, Madam Chair. We'll research that, too. Thank you.

Good morning, Chair Abrams, Vice Chair Miller, Ranking Member Thomas, and members of the House Public Safety Committee. I'm happy to offer our association support for House Bill 667 today that we feel makes several important changes to Ohio law that will improve public safety. I'm not going to read my testimony either. I think the previous witnesses have largely covered the various portions of the bill and the reasons that the law enforcement community and prosecutors support those. I will touch on one other additional part of the bill that may go to another part of the bill that may answer some of Representative Gambari's question from earlier, too. I will note that the change to the GPS monitoring is something that our association has supported and sought since the murder of Reagan-Tokes in 2017. We worked with the legislature when the first Reagan-Tokes Act was going through the General Assembly to try to get that accomplished. unfortunately. We're not able to do that then, or we might not be standing here today. The part of the bill that I want to talk about that has not been addressed yet deals with how people who are on post-release control are sentenced for a new felony, and this is what may address some of what Representative Gambari is asking. Under current law, when an offender who is on post-release control is convicted of a new felony, the court can terminate their PRC and sentenced them for the new felony plus another term for the post-release control violation. The term for the post-release control violation is the greater of 12 months or however much time the offender has left on post-release control at the time they are sentenced for the new felony. So currently, any time between the commission of the new felony offense and the sentencing for the new felony offense reduces the length of the offender's total sentence, giving the offender the incentive and, in fact, the ability to reduce their own sentence by causing delay on the sentencing for the new felony. House Bill 667 changes this so that the term for the post-release control violation is the greater of 12 months or however much time the offender has left on post-release control at the time they commit the new felony. And this removes the incentive and the ability for the offender to reduce their own new sentence. And so just to use Representative Gambari's example, if somebody cuts off their, if they cut off their ankle monitor, that is an escape. That's a new felony offense. If they've got, right now, if they've got two years left Post-release control, and they somehow cause nine months of delay before they are sentenced for cutting off their ankle monitor, they're now going to be sentenced to a maximum of 15 months for the post-release control violation, because they ate up nine months delaying the sentence in the new case. Under the bill, they're going to be sentenced for two years for the post-release control violation, plus whatever time they get for cutting off the ankle monitor, the escape offense. So the bill is removing their ability to reduce their prison time for committing a new felony offense. Just quickly on the TCAP issue, to be clear, our association is opposed to programs both like TCAP and Reclaim that use money to influence judicial sentencing. It's our position that these programs have prioritized prison population management over public safety, and that public safety has suffered because of it. That said, barring their full repeal of TCAP, we do believe that it should at least be reformed, and that the way that House Bill 667 does that by giving judges some additional discretion to deal with some of these repeat offenders and hold them accountable is an appropriate response. With that, we encourage the committee's favorable consideration of this bill. We believe this is a public safety first bill, and we are fully in support of it. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Representative Creech. Thank you, Chair. Thank you for being here. I've had a couple questions regarding ankle monitors. You know, we've always heard about people wearing ankle monitors. I have very little experience with them. but you know I guess my question is what is the average duration of an ankle monitor and you know as far as I don't know if we want to talk percentage or what but you know the percentage of people that would cut an ankle monitor off to do a reoffense.

Okay.

I'm sorry, Representative Creech. Okay. Ranking Member Thomas. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Prosecutor, for your testimony. I guess my question to you, fourth and fifth degree felonies, low-level nonviolent felonies, repeat offenders.

Through the chair to Representative Thomas, yes, I believe that's correct.

Okay. All right. We need to fix that. Agreed.

Thanks, Chair. Thanks, Lou. Is there a mandatory time for Is that a three mandatory sentence Through the chair to Representative Plummer First if I could clarify one thing not to contradict Grace but an escape from post control or supervised release is an F4 if you on parole or post control for an aggravated murder a murder or a rape

I'd have to look at that and get back to you. Follow-up? follow-up? Well, when you roll the dice on what judge you get, maybe we should make it mandatory to take their flexibility or their discretion because sometimes they don't use it the right way. We both can't stand TCAP and reclaim. I'm not sure which one's worse, but since we got the issue on the table, we really need to dig into both. So if you got any suggestions on what needs

Follow-up. Did our good friend from Hamilton County, the former representative, make these two mandatory for each county, or is it still optional for each county?

Follow-up.

Welcome to committee. Thank you, Chairman. I gonna take those off Chair Abrams Vice Chair Miller Ranking Member Thomas and members of the House Public Safety Committee I like to thank the committee for the opportunity to address this very very important issue I've been working as a police officer for the city of Cincinnati for the last 26 years, and for the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office for four years prior to that. My almost 30 years of police work, I've worked in several different capacities. I've been a field training officer on bike patrol. I've worked undercover narcotics in a street corner unit, canine handler. I'm currently a SWAT operator as well. So I've had the ability to do a lot of things as a police officer in my 30 years. One thing that has always been consistent and important in how myself and others do the job is access to information that can assist us in doing our jobs to the best of our capabilities, both for our personal safety and the safety of the general public. We all know that we, as law enforcement entities, are not perfect and depend on the information that is available to us in any given situation. If I or any officer has a general interaction with an individual in an official capacity, the information we seek can literally be life-affecting for everyone involved. technology over the last 30 years has changed dramatically i remember when i first started the job nobody had a cell phone the computers in the police cars look like texas instruments that you had when you're in grade school we are way past the point where we can do this where we know that we can have a very simple system and i speak to you as a police officer because i'm still out there doing the job. I'm not administration, no offense to the chief, of course, and others, but we depend on these things. We have TikTok, we have Instagram, we have Facebook, we have the ability, as Representative said, to have tags on our phones and immediate information. We have sexual offender sites right now in the state of Ohio. There is absolutely no reason why APA cannot develop a site and everything is there. It gives us the ability to find these individuals or at least be told of these things before something happens. to put the blame on one entity is frankly unfair and unrealistic the most unfortunate thing is that it seems that most of the time it takes a tragedy to change things and worse yet more than one tragedy i can say one thing for certain is that i am tired i'm tired physically and emotionally I've seen more than I ever wanted to and to know that there could be a system in place that could assist with possibly avoiding just one of these tragedies is frankly a no-brainer for all parties involved I'm not a lawyer I don't have a law degree I do my best and I've heard attorneys talk this morning and that's not my field. My field is to make sure I get people out of the community that hurt other people. That is my job. That was my law enforcement perspective as a police officer on the job Now my personal one. Patrick was a friend of mine. Just like he was to so many. Getting a phone call on the morning of June 4th from a fellow officer left me stunned with so many questions. I went to the scene and stood outside, wanting to obtain as much information as possible. My next stop was the Finley Movement to try to speak with them. I knew they were going to be confused, as was I. Every moment was hard, and I struggled to explain why and how. Though I've been on dozens of homicides, shootings, rapes, child crimes, and heard dying declarations, it never hits as hard as when you actually have a connection. A man, a veteran, husband, brother, encourager, friend, member of the community. The absolute senseless loss of his life disgusts me to this day. And probably will for the rest of my time. I am sorry that I could not protect you from this evil. That's supposed to be my job, and I failed. I wish I had not canceled having coffee with you just a couple weeks prior. I still wonder if I had come across his murderer prior to that day, if I could have somehow prevented it. To Sarah and all of Patrick's family, I wish I could have done more, and I'm sorry for a loss that has affected so much. Does good come from evil? I believe some good can. Because of the flaws shown to many in Sarah's tenacity and revealing real truths about crime in Cincinnati, we can now, as law enforcement, have another tool that might assist us in preventing another tragedy. Another family grieving, wondering how this happened and what could have prevented it. I will speak for law enforcement and say that this is needed and it's needed now and way past due. Access to individuals that have violated their post-release control have again decided they are above the law and should be subject to such penalties have been suggested by this bill. Monitoring these individual individuals are essential to the well-being of the community and thus should be enacted as soon as possible. Please give us the tools to help keep our community safe and help move House Bill 667 out of committee. I'll stand for questions. Thank you, Officer

Representative Gambari. Thank you, Chair. I just want to say this, officer. Number one, you owe no one an apology. There are very few people that get into the profession of being willing to risk their life for somebody else, whether it's in in the military, whether it's in law enforcement or any other kind of field where you're running toward danger when everyone else is running away from it. So I just wanted to level set on that piece to say that, you know, that's not a burden that you should carry. I think that every day you wake up and you put the badge on and your uniform on and you go serve your community is a day that you're giving someone a fighting chance. So I just don't want you to carry that. And I just wanted to kind of put that out there. If there's an apology that's owed from anybody, it's from previous General's Assemblies that haven't taken the necessary steps to take this legislation and make it into law and put it before the governor to sign it. And so, you know, I probably shouldn't speak on behalf of my colleagues in this committee, but I would say that this is a committee that's certainly committed to moving this legislation forward and getting it to the floor for a vote. And as the chair said several times earlier to questions from me and my other colleagues in the committee, That's what the committee process is about is refining it, not just putting forward a piece of legislation to say, hey, we've done something, but to put forward something that has teeth in it and that can have a meaningful impact to, you know, the citizens of Ohio and others that come here. So thanks for what you're doing. And, you know, if you ever need to talk, we're just a phone call away. So thank you.

Thank you, Representative.

Yes, through the chair, Representative Thomas. I mean, I completely agree. I know you were in the same shoes as I was for years as a police officer. Yeah, as soon as that ankle monitor comes off, we would like to know. We, of course, want due process as police officers and the right things done. We were very aware of, as police officers, hot sheets. Every day you come in, there's a hot sheet. Every stolen car that's in the city is on that hot sheet. Information's available. You can do what you need to do. I think we're in the same situation with this. I know there's a lot of technicalities involved. I know there's a lot that goes in with the bill. I understand that. I guess sometimes I think it's the problem. I'm not going to say it's easy to fix, but there's a lot of common sense in doing sometimes the correct thing. I know we've got to go through the procedures, but I think we can address this problem very easily. Frankly, you can have a hot sheet for individuals who have cut off their ankle monitors. I think it would be quite simple, actually. Just one follow-up. Follow-up. Would you also agree that we definitely have a problem if somebody steals my car 10 times and he ain't in the penitentiary. I mean, the point, you get where I'm going. You get where I'm going. Yes, sir. An individual commits a continuous felony, low level. And as what I hearing from the prosecutors is that the judge hands are tied or whatever the case may be according to the law that they can send this person to the penitentiary Would you agree that that a serious problem Yes Absolutely. Okay. All right. That's all. Thank you. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Officer Woods, for taking the former police officers on this committee down memory lane with MDTs and hot sheets and everything else. Technology has come a long way, and I can assure you that this committee is going to work on this bill and make it the best version it can be when we voted out for a full vote on the House floor. And we'll do the same thing over in the Senate. Thank you. Thank you to the chair and the committee for listening. I appreciate your time. Thank you for your service.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Chair Abrams, Vice Chair Miller, Ranking Member Thomas, and members of the committee, thank you all so much for the opportunity to present testimony regarding HR 148. My name is Brianna Booker, and I'm the Policy Associate for the Children's Defense Fund of Ohio. We are a statewide multi-issue child advocacy organization that has worked on behalf of children, young people, and families in this state for 45 years. And our mission is to build community so that young people grow up with dignity, with hope, and with joy. And so today I'm here standing in strong support of H.R. 148, which we believe lays a critical foundation for stronger legislative safeguards preventing firearm-related child deaths. Across Ohio, preventable firearm deaths continue to claim the lives of our children. Far too many of our children. According to the 2023 Child Fatality Report, 86% of child firearm deaths reviewed from 2018 to 2022 were determined to be preventable. And one critical pathway to prevention is ensuring families have access to education and resources on the importance of safe firearm storage. HR 148's focus on mobilizing state and local agencies, community organizations, and other key stakeholders is essential to making that education possible, making that education accessible, and making it effective across our state. And by clearly highlighting practical safe storage strategies, including the use of lockboxes, trigger locks, and separating ammunition from the firearm, this resolution helps to ensure that safe storage practices are also understandable and achievable for families across Ohio. But while we fully support this resolution as an important first step, we must also acknowledge that safe storage practices and voluntary measures alone are insufficient to protect our children. In addition to promoting responsible firearm storage, the legislature must invest in the communities that are on the front lines of preventing harm. Community organizations across Ohio have consistently reinforced this to us, emphasizing that without adequate resources encouragement alone does very little to strengthen their capacity to prevent violence As one minister from Columbus shared community stakeholders want to do that work but without your backing, it is nearly impossible. In Akron, leaders described always operating on a shoestring, noting that there was a lot of really fantastic work going on in their area, but because it is under-resourced, it struggles to continue. And in Cleveland, community leaders underscored that their work is too often dismissed as volunteering or community service when in reality they are being asked to enter really dangerous situations without any resources other than their proximity to people and to pain. These organizations need more than your encouragement. They need financial support. Efforts to share information and raise information or raise awareness about safe storage cannot reach its full potential without state investment in the organizations being asked to carry out that task. And so for that reason, while we fully support HR 148, we also want to encourage you to consider a broader set of findings and recommendations outlined in our recently published report, and it is linked in the testimony, on the current state of firearm policy and violence prevention efforts here in Ohio. We highlight several evidence-based strategies shaped by community input that together provide essential and effective ways to keep Ohio's children safe. And so again, we stand in strong support of this resolution, but we urge you to view it as an important first step, not as a last step, and certainly not as the only step. H.R. 148 is essential, and it will meaningfully improve the safety and well-being of young people and families across our state, but its impact is dependent upon pairing it with additional legislative action to invest in and support local community interventions. And as we emphasize in this report, each of us has a profound obligation, each of you has a profound obligation, to ensure that every child not only has the chance to grow up with dignity, hope, and joy, as we say at the Children's Defense Fund, but also the chance to grow up at all. And so again, I encourage the passage of this resolution to serve as just the first step in evidence of that commitment by the Ohio General Assembly. And at this time, I will take any questions that the committee may have.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Ms. Booker, for coming to support this resolution. In your testimony, you talked about investment in community strategies, which is something that I'm working on as well. Could you tell the committee what would that look like? How does that look, an investment in organizations, communities who are doing boots on the ground work?

Follow-up? Any further questions from the committee? Seeing none, thank you for your testimony.

The chair now calls Amy Zerani for proponent testimony. How'd I do with the name?

Thank you for coming. Proceed when you're ready.

Thank you Amy for coming to committee and sharing your powerful testimony. Are there any questions from the committee? Representative Brum.

And it's also to hold accountability and responsibility because people should be held accountable for leaving a gun out where a child can get a hold of it. I mean, it's common sense. Put them away. So just to try to get everything who fails to comply, gun owners who fail to comply with securing it to be held accountable. Okay.

Thank you, Chairwoman. And thank you to the witness for coming and providing your testimony. Thank you for your vulnerability, your boldness, your intentionality of showing up before us. I know grief is not a linear process, so I appreciate you showing up today.

But that's not my question, Chairwoman. I always have to talk to her first, just for clarification. So with this being a resolution, you know the difference between what a resolution does and what a House bill does.

So for those at home, we always got to speak to the grandmas because somebody's, I don't think my seniors are watching today. But I know in Orange Village where I live, and I'm getting to my question, Chairwoman, we pass out gun safety locks in Orange Village, which is in House District 18 where I live. where I live. And in a perfect world, we will figure out how to work with our state as well as with our local municipalities. What would be your perfect world of what it would look like for what we should be doing? Next year, we're going to be working on our operation budget. We're going to have a new governor. We're going to have a whole new, you know, people in office. If you're looking to what you would want for us to do in the state of Ohio because you and your family deserve to make sure that this doesn happen to anybody else What do you think we should be doing as we go into this year

I do have a follow-up. Follow-up? I'll be quick. So thanking you again for this, because I know a resolution is not a law, so it does not mandate anything.

This is my question.

And ask for money for safety locks.

During budget season.

Okay, I know Red Brewer's gonna be on top of it.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Chairwoman.

Thank you for being here today. The chair now recognizes Patricia Crumrich for proponent testimony. And members, I have a hard stop at 1130 today, so I'd like to keep things brief so we can get through everything. Welcome to committee. The floor is yours.

Thank you, Patricia, for your testimony today. Members, do you have any questions for the witness? Representative Brewer.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, through the chair, to address your first question, like how do you feel? What does it do to you? I told Amy, Amaya's mother, the other day, I know what it is like to wake up every morning, especially over those first 10 years, because mine was 25 years ago. to wake up every morning and feel like it's the worst day of your life. And another really hard part of it is to watch how it changes the lives of the surviving siblings. Because I've had to go through this all over again with my younger daughter, who could have saved the life of my older daughter. so and in a perfect world I couldn't even begin to describe to you what a perfect world would be like a perfect world would be where Everybody would use guns responsibly, where there would be no raid shootings and guns left out. But I'm just focused on this one step, because I've been working on the perfect world since 2019, and we're not getting very far, especially in Ohio. These are our children, people. They are the most precious thing we have. We need to take this simple step and just put it out there to people of both parties that all of us agree it is really important to lock up your guns. That's all we're asking you to do. So I ask you to pass H.R. 154 or 148.

I think this whole entire committee agrees with personal responsibility. I can tell you that. Thank you so much. And, you know, I hope you'll share that with the representatives who weren't able to be here today. So we have many other committees running where they're voting, so members have to leave because they have to be present to vote the whole nine yards.

It just gets a little discouraged.

After 10 years of doing this and you never get to the people who win.

Well, the good news was at 930, generally everybody was here.

Well, I don't know.

I usually put members first. So members and their testimony first. Sponsors go first, typically. But anyway, all right. Thank you for your testimony and thank you for being here.

The chair now recognizes Amy Bradley for proponent testimony. Welcome to committee.

Thank you, Amy, for being here today and for your testimony. Members, do you have any questions? Representative Brewer.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Seeing none. Thank you.

The chair now recognizes, last but not least, Dr. David Cerrillo. I'm going to totally, I'm going to jazz up here. I'm terrible with last names.

Welcome, Dr. Is it what?

Cerrillo. Okay. Welcome, Dr., to committee.

Oh, okay. Well, here we go. Well, hey, close enough, right? Thank you.

Thank you, David, for being here today, and good luck on the rest of your residency and your path to be an MD. Thank you for serving here in Ohio. Members, do you have any questions? Are you sure? Okay.

There you go.

Thank you. given my massive unexperience, from what I've seen, it's been chaotic. Because initially, in the emergency department, you see mostly a reaction. We don't have all the information. In fact, most of the information comes at a later date or time. Usually we just get the incident. I can tell from my wife's also experience, she is a third-year resident, about to be in attending. Uh, she recently had a case where a 15 year old who had a gun, 17 year old was driving, or I believe it was that way, um, got into a shootout with an Uber driver, Uber driver retaliated in defense, shot back and struck the 17 year old brother in the face, severing spinal cord and became a, uh, a vegetative state. This just happened less than two weeks ago. it's disheartening and it breaks families apart thank you

members please direct your iPads for numerous pieces of written testimony today proponent testimony and that will now conclude the second hearing of House Resolution 148 I will now call House Bill 725 for its second hearing. Is there anyone here that would like to give proponent testimony on House Bill 725? Seeing none, that will now conclude the second hearing on House Bill 725. And with no further business before this committee, we are hereby adjourned.